Myanmar’s military regime pardons 4 foreigners in mass amnesty because of national holiday – News

• The military regime in Myanmar has pardoned almost 6,000 detainees due to a national holiday.
• The Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma has consistently granted amnesties to mark the occasion.
• The independent news service Myanmar Now quoted the military leadership as saying that four foreigners and eleven “celebrities” were among those released.

The UN Human Rights Office welcomed the release, but drew attention to the thousands of other detainees in a tweet.

Australian economics professor Sean Turnell, former British ambassador to the country Vicky Bowman, her husband and Japanese journalist Toru Kubota were released as part of the amnesty, a spokesman for the military junta said.

Economics professor Turnell is the former advisor to the ousted Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi. He was arrested shortly after the February 2021 military coup and was on trial for allegedly violating an official secrets law. At the end of September he was sentenced to three years in prison – to the horror of human rights activists around the world.

The Australian government has repeatedly called for Turnell’s release. Professor colleagues have also been committed to him for many months, the report said. Turnell had been charged with violating a state secrets law.

10 years imprisonment for filming a protest action

Vicky Bowman, a former British envoy, was also pardoned. Bowman was sentenced to a year in prison in early September on alleged immigration violations. Her Myanmar husband, the artist Htein Lin, was accused of aiding and also sentenced to one year in prison.

In October, the Japanese journalist and filmmaker Toru Kubota was sentenced to a total of ten years in prison for incitement to hatred and violations of communications and immigration laws. The documentary filmmaker was arrested after filming a protest in the largest city of Yangon.

Suu Kyi remains in solitary confinement

Since the coup and the removal of de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi from power, the junta has ruled with an iron fist. The military cracks down on any resistance. Foreigners are also targeted by the generals. Suu Kyi is being held in solitary confinement in a prison and has to face a series of new allegations in court. Human rights activists speak of show trials.